making headway!! - question about when to get more credit

making headway!! - question about when to get more credit

This has been such a good month for me credit-rebuilding wise so far. I'm almost nervous to talk about something I THINK I got removed from my CR today, until I actually get the letter in my hands, I'm going to hold off but suffice it to say it was a great potential move for me.

My current situation is this: I'm at low 600s right now. My current Credit util is 100% and will be 0% by the end of this month, that's right I will have all my credit cards paid off in full (low limits but still a great feeling/uti score). I'm guessing this will put me over 625 hopefully and with what I just potentially fixed today should put me in the low-mid 600s.

My question is this: When do I want to start looking at other lines of credit to get my CL increased and get more positive reporting on my report? I have no recent inquiries and my Average age is around 12 years so this wouldn't be terrible to do (I don't think). Should I:

A: Wait until I hit XXX number and apply for XXX YYY or ZZZ lines of credit to boost my score. And if so, what is the ballpark number to start this and whom should I apply with?

OR

B: Don't do anything, keep my score where it is and just let aging help my baddies become less and less bad and don't worry about opening anymore lines of credit?

Re: making headway!! - question about when to get more credit

Congrats on the head way. You should notice a significant increase when your Util goes from 100% to 0%. However, after that I do not recommend applying for a CL increase and I will tell you why. If your Util is 0% and you increase the limit the Util will still be 0%, and you will not see much (if any increase). However in regards to applying for other credit, you can do that after you feel comfortable (after you scores raise from the Util being 0%). I would take a look and see if you will actually benefit from more credit right now, for example will the new account help your mixture of credit. I do not recommend that people apply for credit that they do not need. I would allow time to runs its course on the baddies, and in the mean time start sending GW's and what not to improve your position. That is my 2 cents on it. I hope it helped, and anyone feel free to disagree if I made a mistake! :-)

Re: making headway!! - question about when to get more credit

Yeah, basically asking should I get another CC or some other form of credit such as a charge card at a department store, etc.

I currently have 2 cards, one with 250 and one with 350 limit = 600 total revoling credit. I read that it doesn't matter the amount of credit you have JUST the util so 100000 credit limit with 85% util is still way worse than 500 limit with 5% util but I'm wondering if yet another line of credit reporting would help my score. I know that by adding another card at first it would hurt my score as it would be a hard inquiry, right? Also, isn't there some sort of best buy mastercard that I could possibly check out? Again, I'm at around 605 FICO.

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Many factors affect your FICO Scores and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating.
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.